July 1 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it has bought another 9.9 million shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp, giving it a 17.4% stake in the oil company.
Berkshire paid about $582 million for the shares, which it bought between Wednesday and Friday, according to a Friday night filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Buffett's company is Occidental's largest shareholder, now owning 163.4 million shares worth about $9.9 billion.
Its stake is about 60% larger than that of Vanguard, the next largest shareholder, according to Refinitiv data.
Berkshire also owns warrants to buy another 83.9 million Occidental shares for $5 billion.
Occidental's share price has more than doubled this year, benefiting from Berkshire's purchases as well as rising oil prices following Russia - Ukraine war.
The Berkshire investment has prompted market speculation that Buffett's Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate might eventually buy all of Occidental.
In a June 23 research report, Truist Securities analyst Neal Dingmann saw a "good chance" of a Berkshire takeover once Occidental became an investment-grade credit, saying a purchase would help diversify Berkshire's energy portfolio.
Occidental has been reducing debt, which swelled when it bought Anadarko Petroleum Corp for $35.7 billion in 2019.
Berkshire bought $10 billion of Occidental preferred stock to help finance that purchase, and obtained the warrants at that time.
It also had a $25.9 billion stake in oil company Chevron Corp at the end of March.
Berkshire's share price has fallen 8% this year, compared with a 20% decline in the Standard & Poor's 500.
Buffett's company owns dozens of businesses, including the BNSF railroad, Geico car insurer and its namesake energy business, as well as stocks including Apple Inc and Bank of America Corp.
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